Bill on euthanizing animals is stalled in City Council committee

A second attempt to force the Hawaiian Humane Society to announce publicly its intent to euthanize animals failed to garner enough support before the City Council Parks and Recreation Committee on Tuesday.

Two committee members supported Bill 57 while two others rejected it.

Councilman Tom Berg, who introduced the bill, said he wants to give animals scheduled to be put to death a chance to be saved by one of a number of animal shelter organizations. Several groups testified for the bill.

But members Romy Cachola and Breene Harimoto sided with Humane Society official Keoni Vaughn, who said the bill would impose an unreasonable financial burden. Vaughn also argued that many of the no-kill groups, while well-intentioned, are ill-equipped to handle an influx of animals that often do not interact well with humans.

The Humane Society seeks to find homes on all animals that are not “sick, the feral, the aggressive and the dying,” he said.